Ashland Railway will install mast-mounted flashing lights and roadway gates at the grade crossing at State Route 598, near Willard, Huron County.

All of the upgrades are to be completed no later than April 23, 2015 and will be paid for with federal funds.

In other crossing upgrade news, work on a North Carolina Department of Transportation (NCDOT) project to replace a railroad crossing on Morrisville Parkway is planned for July 28 through August 3. The crossing will be replaced with a bridge to carry rail traffic over the road at that location.

The $13.6-million project to install the bridge will reduce the risk of automobile-train collisions at the site, as well as relieve vehicle and train congestion, while increasing rail capacity and efficiency. Removing the railroad crossing is part of NCDOT's Sealed Corridor Program in partnership with CSX and Norfolk Southern.

The goal of the program is to "seal" the rail corridor between Raleigh and Charlotte by eliminating or improving rail-highway street level crossings. The project is also part of the Piedmont Improvement Program to modernize railroad track, roads and bridges along the corridor between Raleigh and Charlotte.

The new bridge is scheduled to open by mid-November of 2016. Additional vegetation work should wrap up by May 15, 2017.